DOGE History Repeats? Founder's Move Back in Spotlight Amid Strategy's BTC Drama

Dogecoin cofounder Billy Markus, who goes by "Shibetoshi Nakamoto" on X, reacted to recent reports that the world's largest publicly traded company holding Bitcoin, Strategy, may sell a portion of its $BTC holdings, about $1.25 billion.

Strategy holds 847,363 $BTC as of June 22. If the Bitcoin treasury company were to raise $1.25 billion through Bitcoin sales, it might need to sell about 20,800 $BTC at current prices, equivalent to about 2.5% of its 847,363 $BTC holdings.

However, the news that Strategy might sell a portion of its massive $BTC stash has generated reactions from a large part of the crypto community, including Dogecoin co-founder Billy Markus.

In an X post, Markus shared a short video clip that had a compilation of tweets from Strategy Chairman and Bitcoin advocate Michael Saylor urging holders never to sell their Bitcoin.

This itself attracted comments from the Dogecoin community, as an X user pointed out Markus' well-known decision to sell his $DOGE holdings years ago.

Markus, who co-founded Dogecoin in 2013, sold all of his $DOGE holdings in 2015 after being laid off from his job. He liquidated his entire crypto portfolio for about $10,000 to pay rent and cover basic living expenses. This amount was equivalent to what a used Honda Civic would cost at that time.

Despite the recurring jokes and discussions, Markus maintains a lighthearted attitude toward the decision. This is seen with Markus posting a meme GIF that basically said "I'm fine" in response to the X user who recalled this decision.

Strategy to sell Bitcoin?

In a recent press release, Strategy announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a $BTC Monetization Program under which the company may sell $BTC from time to time for three primary purposes.

First, to generate up to $1.25 billion to fund the USD Reserve; second, to additionally fund preferred stock dividends and interest expenses as they become payable or to replenish the USD Reserve after such payments. Third, to additionally fund repurchases of Digital Credit Securities or Class A common stock.

As stated in the release, the $BTC Monetization Program does not obligate Strategy to sell any $BTC, fund any dividend payment or interest expense through $BTC sales, or repurchase any securities.

The $BTC Monetization Program will have no fixed expiration date and may be modified, suspended, or terminated at any time.